Chesterfield mum slams town centre Wetherspoon pub after being ‘humiliated’ and ‘covered in urine’ while waiting for food

Kay and her daughter had decided to go to the Portland Hotel Wetherspoon pub on West Bars for some breakfast on the morning of Sunday, November 6.

She said: “Our plan was to go there and then do some shopping before my daughter went to work. I never go to the Portland, and I prefer the Spa Lane Vaults, but with my daughter working in town it made sense to go there.”

The pair had sat down and ordered their food but, when Kay placed her hand on her chair shortly after, she said she could feel it was damp.

“I smelled my hand straight away and it smelled of urine. I stood up and looked down, and I had a big wet patch all over the back of my trousers. It had also soaked through my coat, which I was half sat on while it was on the back of my chair.

“Our drinks were brought over by a member of staff who I later found out was the shift manager. I had swapped chairs and told him the other one was covered in wee, and I had just sat in it.

“He said ‘trust me, it won’t be wee’, to which I said ‘trust me, it is.’ He carried on arguing and I asked him to smell it, and he said ‘no thank you, I don’t want to smell it’. I told him I had sat in it and was covered in it, and he just took the chair away and didn’t say anything else.”

Kay said she was left feeling humiliated after the encounter – and added that it was only when another member of staff smelled her jacket that they accepted her account of what had happened.

“I went down to the toilets and washed my hands and everything. At this point I started crying – I just felt humiliated. I absolutely stank and I was covered in someone else’s wee.

“Another server was passing and I asked her if it was too late to cancel my food. I told her I had sat in wee and was covered in it – I felt disgusting. She said again that she didn’t think it would be wee. I picked my coat up for her to smell and she instantly pulled away, with a face as if to say oh god, yeah.”

Kay’s meal was eventually refunded – but she said she was more infuriated by the manager’s initial refusal to believe what had happened.

“Our food was brought out and I didn’t touch it. The manager told me he had issued a refund for my meal, which I told him it wasn't about and walked off. It’s the fact that he stood there and argued with me that I hadn’t sat in wee, when I knew full well I had.

“At this point I was just unconsolable, I was such a mess – the only reason I stayed was because my daughter needed to eat before she went to work. If it wasn't for his colleague smelling the coat, I wouldn’t have even got the refund, because he didn’t believe me – that’s what got to me.

“He just said ‘sorry, it’s out of my control’ and I told them I was going to take it further. At no point did anyone come up to me and offer to let me wash or dry myself, no one even came back to check our food was okay.”

Kay said that, thankfully, she was spared the embarrassment of having to get a bus home – but could not shake her frustration at how she was treated.

“I left humiliated – luckily I was driving and didn’t have to get a bus, and I came straight home. Imagine if we had caught the train from somewhere else and were going out for the day, and I was in my best – it would’ve been game over.

“I chucked the trousers I was wearing away – I don’t ever want a reminder of it. I just stunk and I was absolutely sodden in it. I’ve never known anything like it, I was in a right state. I’ve never cried so much – I think it was just as much frustration and anger at how I was treated by the manager.”

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “Unfortunately, on the day in question, it would appear that a previous customer had an accident whilst using the chair which the pub was unaware of until notified by the customer.

“As soon as staff on duty were made aware that the chair was wet, it was immediately removed from service for cleaning.

“The pub staff provided the customer with a full refund on the day and offered to assist the customer with drying and cleaning her clothes.

“We are confident that this was an isolated incident and apologise again to the customer for the state of the chair and the upset and inconvenience caused her.

“The customer has now been in contact with us regarding this matter. Our customer services team shall respond to the customer as soon as possible. We are now liaising with the customer directly.”